Semiconductor integrated circuit device
A semiconductor integrated circuit device for fast and low power operations, comprising a plurality of circuit blocks of a chip, each of which has a plurality of states with different power consumption values. A power management circuit determines the state of each of the circuit blocks so as not to exceed a maximum power consumption value of the semiconductor integrated circuit device by considering the power consumption of each circuit block and by each state transition in each circuit block. The maximum power consumption value may be preset or adjustable after fabrication.
1 . A semiconductor integrated circuit device comprising:
a plurality of first circuit blocks, each of the plurality of first circuit blocks having-operating states which include at least a first state and a second state and
a power management block including a memory which stores a maximum chip power value that is referred when the operating state for each of the plurality of first circuit blocks is determined,
wherein each of the plurality of first circuit blocks in the first state is activated by higher operational frequency than each of the plurality of the first circuit blocks in the second state,
wherein each of the plurality of first circuit blocks in the first state is activated by larger power consumption than each of the plurality of the first circuit blocks in the second state,
wherein a sum of power consumptions of the plurality of the first circuit block is lower than the maximum chip power value if all of the plurality of first circuit blocks are in the first state and higher than the maximum chip power value if all of the plurality of first circuit blocks are in the second state, and
wherein the power management permits an operating mode that at least one of the plurality of the first circuit blocks operates in the second state.